Ukraine's Foreign Minister Says Initiated Talks With Lavrov Amid Donbas Tensions

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th September, 2020) Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba says he has initiated urgent talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov amid an escalation of the military conflict in southeastern Ukraine (Donbas).

"I have initiated urgent talks with Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov to discuss the current situation [in Donbas] and ways to resolve it," Kuleba wrote on his Facebook page on Sunday, claiming that certain "provocations" occurred in Donbas on Sunday, which led to the death of one Ukrainian serviceman.

Ceasefire violations continue in southeastern Ukraine, where additional measures to ensure a cessation of hostilities came into force in July.

Earlier this month, Russian envoy to the Trilateral Contact Group on Donbas, Boris Gryzlov, said that both the Donetsk and Luhansk self-proclaimed republics in Ukraine's southeast were ready to sign agreements on the disengagement of forces provided that local elections are held, in line with the Minsk agreements.

Lavrov said on Friday that there were no current agreements in place for the foreign ministers of the so-called Normandy Four countries - Russia, France, Germany, and Ukraine - to meet. The Normandy format has been established to help resolve the armed conflict in Donbas which started in 2014, when Kiev launched a military operation against the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Luhansk.